PRINCIPAL'S REPORT

Welcome back to Term 3

I can hardly believe that we are half way through 2022 already. It has been wonderful to have been able to remain all together as a community all year and for a full semester of subjects to have been taught face-to-face and our learning community completely restored.

This term, we welcome back some staff to SCSC.

Noah Scott has joined the Year 7 FUSE team and is also taking a Year 10 Humanities class. Noah was here as a pre-service teacher earlier in the year and we are so glad to have him returning since he has completed his education degree.

Lucy Duckett (nee Munro) has also returned from a period of family leave. Lucy is joining the Literacy Tutor team Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Being a teen is not easy, and parenting one is often even harder

Surf Coast SC have been working in collaboration with the Surf Coast Shire on reviewing the needs of young people and their families in the local area. Several forums were held during 2021 and the Shire is also drafting a Youth Development Strategy which will soon be presented to Council and shared for feedback with the wider community. We are excited about this shared work and collaborative focus on the needs of young people in the Surf Coast area.

One initiative is supporting parents with more ongoing, easily accessible ways to connect with each other and experts in the field of youth development to help us learn more about how we can best cater to the needs of our young people during what is often a very challenging time in their lives.

This Term, the Shire are hosting renowned psychologist and leading specialist in parenting, children and adolescents, Dr Michael Carr-Gregg at the Multi Arts Centre (MAC) in Torquay for three presentations to the community.

The topics of each forum will be:

August 9th – Raising Happy and Resilient Young People

August 29th – Coping with Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs

September 5th – De-Mystifying and Managing Adolescent Risk

The forums will run from 6.30pm to 7.30pm.

There will also be local health and wellbeing providers at the events that you can learn more about and connect with on the night.

More information is to come and will be sent via Compass and also in future newsletters.

Each event is capped at 150 attendees and is FREE.

Keeping ourselves and each other healthy and well

We all know that there was a great deal of illness being experienced during Term two by students and staff of the College. This is likely to continue in these colder months of Term three also. We are consistently staffed as a school quite well and are maintaining a consistent teaching and learning program as much as we can around unavoidable staff absences when people do fall ill.

A few things that the community can be doing at this time to help to keep each other healthy and well are:

Face masks are not mandated to be worn but are currently recommended indoors. Face masks are available for students and staff in learning spaces around the College and at the Administration Office. Students are also welcome to bring in their own. Please speak to your child to see if they wish to re-engage in wearing a face mask at school to limit the possibility of contracting some illnesses.
If your child does test positive to COVID 19, it is important that they follow the current requirements to isolate for a period of 7 days. Please advise the College of your child’s positive result via the covidresponse@scsc.vic.edu.au email and we will be in touch in relation to supports for learning that we can provide.
If your child is a household contact of a positive case of COVID 19 please also advise us via the same email above. Household contacts are asked to undertake a RAT test for 5 of the 7 days of the isolation period and also wear a face mask at all times when at school or on the way to school.
Hand sanitiser is still accessible in all learning spaces and we encourage students to engage in good hygiene practices.
Ensure that you do not attend school if unwell. Notify the College of your child’s absence via Compass please.

Pathways Expo and Course Counselling

Our first Pathways Expo was held first week of Term on the Thursday and it was wonderful to have so many families join us for the information sessions and to speak with our staff about their learning areas and learn what pathways subjects support for the futures of our young people.

Course counselling days will be conducted differently this year, with students in the year level involved not being required to attend classes on the day. They will be given an appointment time and will meet in the Library on the day with one of the staff that are conducting the course counselling meetings. Sub-School Leaders will be in touch in relation to the times and specific organisation of these days.

Wednesday July 20th – Year 11 into 12 Course Counselling
Wednesday July 27th – Year 10 into 11 Course Counselling
Friday July 29th – Year 9 into 10 Course Counselling

Hope you've had a good 1st week of Term 3.

Erin Wright

Principal